The Portugal international’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has already overseen four transfers to the super-rich club, with Ricardo Carvalho, Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho and James Roriguez all switching to the French league under Mendes’ guidance.

Now it seems Nani will be the latest to make the move, with the winger finding himself on the fringes of the United team as Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Danny Welbeck and new signing Wilfried Zaha are all challenging in the same position.

The Portuguese midfielder has spent six years at Old Trafford since moving from Sporting Lisbon as a long-term replacement to fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo.

Nani never quite lived up to that label but has provided 56 assists and scored 25 goals in 135 Premier League matches for the Red Devils in that time.

The midfielder also has 66 caps for Portugal and at the £8.5m it’s believed to cost to convince United to part with the wide-man, the deal is something of a bargain.

Monaco have only just returned to the French top tier, but with the backing of Russian billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev the club have managed to attract some of Europe’s top talents – with the minimal tax laws in the Principality another bonus for the highly paid stars.